Soap dispenser



' Sept. 5, 1944. w. A; DUIDLEIY 2,357,387.

SOAP DISPENSER Filed July is, 1943 i WLL/AMA. D0045);

INVENTOR.

ATTORNEY.

Patented Sept. 5, 1944 SOAP DISPENSER William A. Dudley, Los Angeles, cant, assignor to Pacific Coast Borax Company, a corporation oi Nevada Application July 13, 1943,.Serial No. 494,465

2 Claims.

This invention. relates to hand operated dispensing apparatus for dispensing powdered material such as powdered soap or other cleansing compounds such as are used in public lavatories, wash rooms. and; similar places. Workers. in various enterprises, for instance, those working. in officesas compared with workers in machine shops and like places, require different amounts of soapfor washing their hands and heretofore dispensers of the class referred to have been so arranged that they each deliver the same amount of soap in a. single operation. Consequently. users requiring more soap have had to repeatedly operate the dispenser to get sufiicient soap for the purpose required. It is not practical for the. manufacturer or distributor of dispensers to stock dispensers with various types of valve mechanism for these various needs. Consequently, it is one of the objects of this inyention to produce a dispenser which may be regulated to dispense diiferent quantities of soap as may be required by the users in their respective locations. 7

It is a further object of my invention to produce a dispenser for powdered material of simple form and, construction having an arrangement of valve mechanism and. associated parts where- :bya, desiredvagitation of the contents is provided so that regardless 01, the setting of the valve the desired agitation is accomplished.

Th present invention is an improvement of the dispenser shown inmy previous Patent No. 2,311,330, the improvements being designed to obtain the objects above set forth in a simple and practical manner. Other objects and advantages lwill appear hereinafter from the following description and drawing. Referring to the drawing,

which is for illustrative purposes only Fig. 1 is a vertical sectional view of a dispenser embodying a form of my invention, the valve being at the lower end of its stroke;

Fig. 2 is a view similar to Fig. 1 with the valve at the lower end of its stroke but with a different setting of the valve;

Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view .of the lower portion of the dispenser shown in Figs. 1 and 2 with the valve shown at the upper end of its stroke;

Fig. 4 is a sectional plan view on line 4-4 of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 5 is a sectional plan view of the valve on line 5-5 of Fig. 3.

Referring more particularly to the form of dispenser shown in the drawing, Ill designates a container for the powdered material, the container'in the present instance being cylindrical in form and terminating at its lower end inadepending circular flange H forming an opening l2. Inside the container I is a conicalor tapered bottom l3 having a valve opening indicated. at

M. Secured tov the underside of the conical bottom I3 by means of welding or in any other suitable manner, is a shell l forming a valve chamber indicated. at I6, the lower end of the shell being tapered inwardly as-indicated' at. l! forming a discharge outlet l8.

Vertically movablein the valve chamber [6 is a valve provided with an upwardly extending stem 21 which is reduced at its upper end as indicated at 22, such reduced portion extending through and being guided by a circular opening 23 in a cross piece 24 formed on a ring 25 secured in any suitable manner in the upper end of the container l0. Forthe purposes more particularly referred to hereinafter the reduced portion of the stem 2| .is provided with two holes 26 and 21 adapted to receive a cotter pin 28 which. engages with the upper face of the cross piece 24- and supports the valve and limits the downward. movement of the valve in the. dispenser. The valve 20 is provided with a downwardly extending handle generally indicated at 30, having an offset portion indicated at 3|. The flange ll of the container is provided with a. guide 32 which receives theofiset portion 3| of the handle. This. prevents turning movement of the handle and consequently the valve in the container.

For the purpose of jarring the material not only in the container proper but particularly in the valve chamber l6, a stop or abutment 33 is provided which, in the present form, is shown as secured to a shoulder 34 formed on the shell l5. The stop 33 is adapted to be engaged by a plug 35 preferably of resilient material, the plug being mounted on the offset portion 3| of the handle.

It is to be understood that when the handle is moved upwardly the striking of the plug 35 against the abutment 33 limits the upward movement of the valve.

Arranged in the valve proper 20 is a plurality of series of recesses or notches indicated at 3B and 31, such notches terminating at their upper ends in sharp shoulders indicated at 3B, the notches 36. and 31 are spaced around the valve as shown in Fig. 5, that is, the series of notches 36are above the series of notches 31 and offset with relation to each other. e

A suitable cap indicated at 40 may be used to close the top of the container.

The operation of the dispenser is as follows: Assuming that the pin 28 i in the lower hole 5 of the valve stem the normal position of the parts are as shown in Fig. 1. In this instance operation of the dispenser by striking the handle upwardly brings the lower notches 31 into the bottom of the container as shown in Fig. 3. These notches .31 receive soap from the container and upon release of the handle the valve moves downwardly into the position shown in Fig. 1. The soap in th notches 31 is discharged into the valve chamber I6. By repeating this operation when the valve moves into its upper position as shown in Fig. 3 it is to be understood that the soap in the valve chamber from the previous operation of the'valve, is discharged through the discharge outlet l8. The container with the valve setting just described only delivers to the valve chamber the soap from the notches 31. This amount of soap may be entirely satisfactory where a dispenser is used in ofiices and the like but altogether unsatisfactory as to amount when used iniactories, machine shops, etc., where the hands of the users are grimy or extremely soiled. To meet such latter occasions. the pin 28 is inserted in the upper hole 21 of the valve stem in which case the parts assume the positions shown in Fig. 2 when the valve is in its lower position. In this case both the upper set of notches 36 and the lower set of notches 3T deliver their charge of soap into the valve chamber l6 and upon the upward movement of the handle 30 such double charge of soap is discharged from the discharge opening l8.

Regardless of the setting of the valve, that 1 whether all of the notches are used to discharge soap or simply one series of notches as is the case when the parts are in the position shown in Fig. 1, the shoulders 38 at the upper end of the notches serve to agitate and assist in keep-.

ing the soap in the container moved into position around the valve to insure filling of the notches'with the material to be dispensed. This is extremely important as it has been found that with various types of powdered material and soap there is in some casesa tendency of the material to cake and not freely flow into the respective notches or recesses.

I claim as my invention: L

1. In a dispenser for powdered soap and the like, the combination of a container having a its upward movement, said recesses in the valve the valve extending upwardly therefrom; a hanbottom with a valve opening therein; a valve chamber under said opening having a discharge outlet; a valve movable in said valve chamber normally closing said valve opening and the discharge outlet; a plurality of series of recesses in the walls of the valve arranged above each other terminating at their upper ends in sharp shoulders; the recesses in one serie being offset with relation to the recesses in the next series; a stem on the valve extending upwardly therefrom; a handle extending downwardly from the valve; abutment means on the lower portion of the container engageable by the handle to limit being so placed that when the valve i in its upper position certain of the series of recesses are above the valve opening in the container and when in its lower position are within the valve chamber; and means for selectively limiting the downward movement of the valve for changing the position of the valve recesses with respect to the valve opening. 2. In a dispenser for powdered soap and the like, the combination of a container having a bottom with a valve opening therein; a valve chamber under said opening havin a discharge outlet; a valve movable in said valve chamber normally closing said valve opening and the discharge outlet, said valve having a plurality of recesses therein one above the other; the recesses in one series being ofiset with relation to the recesses in the next series; a stem on dle extending downwardly from the valve; abutment means on the lower portion of the container engageable by the handle to limit its upward movement said recesses in the valve being so placed that when the valve isin its-upper position certain of the recesses are selectively above the valve opening in the container and when in its lower position are selectively within the valve chamber; and means for limiting the downward movement of the valve for selectively positioning the valve and corresponding relationship between the recesses in the valve and the valve chamber, said limiting means comprising, a cross piece in the upper portion of the container and a removable pin engageable with the upper face of the cross piece, said pin being selectively mounted in one of a series of holes in the valve stem.

WILLIAM A. DUDLEY. 

